1. Expensing of broadband equipment for tax purposes would help. He said the House passed a bill but the Senate did not, because of concerns over definitions (what type of equipment would get the tax break and which would not. wireless? for instance).

1. Expensing of broadband equipment for tax purposes would help. He said the House passed a bill but the Senate did not, because of concerns over definitions (what type of equipment would get the tax break and which would not. wireless? for instance).

−

2. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Utilities_Service | Rural Utility Service] broadband program is working well. Jeff Eisenach has done an internal report for Verizon discussing the significant benefits of this program for Virginia, and he thinks the Connect Kentucky program is particularly successful and may prove to be a model Verizon wants to support for other states.

+

2. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Utilities_Service Rural Utility Service] broadband program is working well. Jeff Eisenach has done an internal report for Verizon discussing the significant benefits of this program for Virginia, and he thinks the Connect Kentucky program is particularly successful and may prove to be a model Verizon wants to support for other states.

3. Wi-Max for rural areas. He said the big impediment until now has been the lack of standards - now that the standard has been set he predicts much greater usage. Not sure what policy change is needed. he seemed to think there was spectrum available at 2.5 and 2.3 GHz.

3. Wi-Max for rural areas. He said the big impediment until now has been the lack of standards - now that the standard has been set he predicts much greater usage. Not sure what policy change is needed. he seemed to think there was spectrum available at 2.5 and 2.3 GHz.

John's Notes

Here are a few notes from our meeting:

We asked Link for Verizon's recommendations for changes to broadband policies to spur broadband deployment to libraries. he said they are working on the issue internally and will have more to say in a couple of weeks. But he offered these possibilities:

1. Expensing of broadband equipment for tax purposes would help. He said the House passed a bill but the Senate did not, because of concerns over definitions (what type of equipment would get the tax break and which would not. wireless? for instance).

2. The Rural Utility Service broadband program is working well. Jeff Eisenach has done an internal report for Verizon discussing the significant benefits of this program for Virginia, and he thinks the Connect Kentucky program is particularly successful and may prove to be a model Verizon wants to support for other states.

3. Wi-Max for rural areas. He said the big impediment until now has been the lack of standards - now that the standard has been set he predicts much greater usage. Not sure what policy change is needed. he seemed to think there was spectrum available at 2.5 and 2.3 GHz.

4. Not a fan of expanding USF. Rural telcos already can use USF funding for broadband today. Verizon doesn't receive any money out of the fund.

5. Franchise reform is still high on the agenda; he mentioned New York and Pennsylvania as two target states of theirs.

Link said he would send me contact info for the comparable people in BellSouth and AT&T. (he doesn't know the Qwest people). He is open to a broader meeting of all telco reps to brainstorm. perhaps cable should have their separate meeting.

Lynne, Carrie and Mark, anthing I missed?

John

Lynne's Notes

I think that John got all the highlights. Just a couple of people observations:
a) I thought that Michael was probably new to these relationships and some of our issues. His assumptions about some things implied that he thought all libraries were still in the 3rd or 4th world.....which is true in some cases. However, he was the one that brought up Verizon Foundation resources, technical volunteers, etc. for opportunities to work together.

b) The materials that Carrie and Mark will send Link should help, but he seemed to not have received recent info. about e-rate. This is a reminder that as we do some e-rate interim reports, we should forward them to Verizon et al (picking such recipients strategically, of course.)

c) Some of the group discussion, and more discussion with Emilio afterwards, suggests that we could work with them if we want to do parental training/content controls education activities - though not part of this broadband discussion.
Lynne